A registry study on CT scanning before shoulder replacement
A new paper, published in JSES International on 13 May 2025, reports a study carried out with the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR) examining how glenoid morphology and the use of pre-operative CT scanning relate to revision rates in shoulder arthroplasty.
What it found
The paper reports that 25% of shoulder replacements are still performed without a pre-operative CT scan. It found that CT scanning did not affect early post-operative revision rates, across stemmed, stemless and reverse arthroplasty.
That is a useful finding precisely because it is a negative one. CT-based planning is intuitively appealing and increasingly routine, and establishing that it does not change early revision rates sets a baseline against which any longer-term benefit has to be demonstrated. Early revision is also a narrow measure: it says nothing about how well a shoulder functions, which is a separate question.
The value of registry data
A study of this kind is only possible because the AOANJRR records shoulder replacements performed across the country and follows them. Population-level data of that sort can detect patterns that no individual practice would have the numbers to see.
The paper suggests that future studies examine patient-reported outcomes, the accuracy of surgical planning, and long-term functional performance.
First author
The first author is Dr Helen Ingoe, a former Brisbane Shoulder Fellow, now Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago.
Read it
The paper is available via this link: read it here. Recommended reading for anyone involved in shoulder arthroplasty.
Related information
See our anatomic total shoulder replacement and reverse total shoulder replacement pages, and our post on augmented glenoid components, which concerns glenoid morphology.